Matt Hardy would have tapped into the early days of his career, sitting under the tutelage of Michael Hayes, had he and Leon Scott become the new TNA Wrestling World Tag Team Champions at TNA Under Siege.
Nic Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth ultimately defeated Hardy and Slater. Still, since Slater was standing in for Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy is now saying that he would have tried to enact the Freedbird Rule to make it so that he, Slater, and Jeff Hardy were all recognized as the TNA Tag Team Champions.
For those unaware, the Freebird Rule refers to a team of three or more wrestlers defending the traditional Tag Team Championship belts by rotating their lineup. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, and Terry Gordy) are the namesake of this wrestling trope. Demolition's Ax, Smash, and Crush, as well as the New Day's Xavier Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston, utilized this rule in WWE.
Matt Hardy explained his thought process on the latest episode of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast.
"I just want to say I'm very proud of Leon's later, very proud of our effort against the Nemeths on Friday evening," Hardy began. "I think he's in, man. I think he's a Hardy. He's a great guy, and there was a part of me that wanted to suggest, if we won that match, then, considering the Nemeths challenged myself and Jeff and they were being jerks whenever they did it, because they knew Jeff couldn't get into Canada. They knew he couldn't cross the border currently. It made me think of this idea that I was wanting to almost pitch, but I didn't, because I'm just gonna wait till Jeff's back. But what if Leon and I had won this match, and I'd said, 'Santino, you know what? Sure, myself and Leon, we won the titles, but I would love to make it like myself, Jeff, and Leon are a three-man unit, like the Freebirds, because they initially challenged myself and Jeff.
"If myself and Leon win them, I feel like Jeff should be allowed to be part of the Tag Team Champions, because they offered the rematch there, knowing that he couldn't go," he continued. "That would have been interesting if Santino would have bitten on it, because he understood the scenario. He knew what the Nemeths did. He knew how they were trolling all the fans whenever they offered us that match. That would have been an interesting scenario as well, but it's one of those things I was thinking. We have Jeff coming back in a couple of weeks. So we'll just roll with what we have right now. We'll be the OG Hardys."
Elsewhere on the podcast, Matt revealed that they are actively working on a plan to allow Jeff Hardy to re-enter Canada. Read more here.
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